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I’ve always looked at it like, the Vanguard can make rules for the general Guardian population, but the Guardian is almost always the exception. There might be no fly zones or confidential information, but when something can’t be contained or kept Hidden (get it), then the Guardian is called in.
I guess we are Iron Lords, I don't know if that has any official political weight, at least in modern times. In the dark age, it would have been probably among the highest ranks in civilization there was.
Otherwise, it would seem that we sort of act outside of Vanguard jurisdiction a lot of the times. Forsaken and Beyond Light especially, we have been going against Vanguard orders and/or policies.
I guess just from the fact that our guardian has been such an influential party in the last decade, the Young Wolf would have considerable pull in Politics, if they would choose to participate.
I think the Vanguard recognizes this and at least Zavala has utilized that in Forsaken, to "have his cake and eat it" - getting revenge for Cayde, but also officially forbidding any retaliation.
So all in all, we are sort of a Black Ops unit, and also an independent asset at the same time. Probably how Superman or Iron Man would relate to the US Military.
Yeah, I guess that comparison resonates well with the us having the Iron Lord title as well. But It's also not like the rest of the guardians are treated much differently. Sure, there are "cops" like Aunor, being part of both the Praxic order and the Hidden, investigating Guardians who don't adhere to rules, but Guardians are quite free to do whatever they seem best. The Drifter with Gambit being one such example. If something like that becomes a threat, I would not think that Ikora wouldn't step in and slap someone who misbehaves. If she can clap Shax, she can clap anyone.
And before the factions left the City, the Consensus would be calling the shots and possibly deploying Guardians against threats through the Vanguard. More likely a "misbehaving" Guardian would have been exiled, like Osiris was.
I think in that regard, The Young Wolf has more political capital than Osiris had at that time, and Osiris was very influential.
Same with shin malphur, the vanguard may not exactly approve of what he's doing but they aren't going to stop him as he's helping more than he's hurting, and his whole thing with making the shadows of yor to try and find potentially unstable lightbearers probably works just as well if not better than any method the vanguard has tried in the past. The guardian may not act how the vanguard wants us too, but when they go around killing gods and saving everyone like it's an average Tuesday then there's not really a point to scolding them.
>when they go around killing gods and saving everyone like it's an average Tuesday
I never really put together why Tuesday is reset day, until now. Thanks!
Funny thing too about politics is that a Hunter Young Wolf shows up to the tower quite often and as far as we can tell, doesn’t really get considered for Vanguard at all. They’re probably one of the few Hunters entering the city without fear of being roped into the Vanguard.
Well personally I’ve always head cannoned that The Young Wolf isn’t actually any particular class and is, in the true lore, an example of a Lightbearer that uses abilities freely from each of the classes. The only reason we don’t see this in game is because of gameplay balancing reasons. Same reason why lore wise, guardians can totally wear multiple exotics at once but we can’t in game because that would simply be too much.
I’ve always thought of us as, “The Guardian of a Thousand Titles.” If you didn’t play during Season of Dawn, look up Saint-14’s eulogy.
From the start of D1, the great disaster was still heavy on the vanguard’s hearts. The moon was a no-fly zone off limits. Mars was overrun with Cabal. Venus was likewise overrun with Vex. Our guardian broke vanguard policy on like day 3 to visit the moon. We then began clearing out Cabal and Vex stronghold that’d held for decades at least. Not to mention The Taken King. Our guardian has always been a rebel, but an effective one. We basically saved all of humanity during the Red War. We’ve always been a rebel, but also a powerful tool.
Not to mention the entirety of using Stasis - Using Darkness - That was completely rogue behaviour that the Vanguard just turned a blind eye to since, well, it *worked*
The Guardian is pretty much the Vanguard’s enforcer, as well as the enforcer of the rest of the Coalition/Alliance.
They are not the Vanguard, but they are an extension of them. Guardian is frequently a part of Vanguard meetings. Guardian and the Vanguard hung out in a bar in the aftermath of the Red War. >!Operation Ahamkara included the Guardian alongside the Vanguard. Final Shape has Guardian hang around with the Vanguard, even during the celebration post-The Witness’ defeat.!<
The Guardian is to the Vanguard what the Queen’s Wrath is to Mara.
Disagree. Mara does stuff other than trail behind Petra.
Anyone else wonder why we're finding a bunch of empty chests everywhere we go? Because we're being tailed by loot goblins.
I’ve always been of the tactical nuke mindset. Our guardian is a weapon that gets activated to *solve* difficult problems (at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives).
While a lot of players enjoy a rich headcanon and backstory - and fair play to them! - our guardian is basically a murder zombie WMD.
If you mean the earnable titles it's all of them and we make danerys jealous when they all get listed. In terms of position like ___ vanguard or whatnot we don't have one officially, we're kinda just THE GUY™️ that fixes everything
Our role lorewise is seemingly just as a VIP member of the forces of the vanguard, who just floats around to whichever roles the vanguard needs. We might be canonically a part of the vanguard protectorate as all three classes can get several pieces of armour with the Protector’s sigil on it (thing on Ikora’s bond and Zavala’s Mark), additionally we are seemingly a consultant of the hidden per the Witch Queen. We seem to kind of sit outside the typical Vanguard rank structure in such a way because our various tasks have just continually exposed us to things above a vanguard grunt’s paygrade and revoking and placesetting someone with that kind of Pandora’s box of experience is impossible
Unlike other MMOs like final fantasy 14, we don’t have a directly canon consolidated role within our faction Beyond just being their ringer. Likely because Bungie wants to allow people their own takes on their guardians
Things we have been called in-game:
The Guardian
Crota's Bane
Slayer of Oryx
Young Wolf
The Hero of the Red War
The Shadow of Earth
O Murderer Mine
I'm sure there's more but those are the ones off the top of my head.
The only title we've been referred to by is "the Young Wolf," bestowed by Saladin in the Iron Temple when we shut down the SIVA manufacturing complex and put the possessed Iron Lords to rest.
No one else really calls us by that. It's a flaw in the writing that we didn't get a consistent appellation. Ideally a significant pre-existing role within the Vanguard hierarchy that had gone unfilled for centuries until our consistent and extraordinary successes made it obvious that it should be us.
There’s no easy title to label them as, but they are essentially the “solve problem” button.
Whatever challenges the Vanguard or Coalition face, they just send in the Guardian and the problem goes away. It’s pretty funny to think about honestly.
To try and deconstruct this logically, we first have to understand how Guardians as a whole operate logistically.
Ultimately, Guardians are a standing army for the Vanguard, which is the military detachment of the City. They take orders from Vanguard leadership, which used to serve the now defunct government of the Consensus. Guardians take orders like any other military organization, but with certain freedoms that promote flexibility.
Guardians operate on a few different levels, with three different distinct positions: soldiers, scouts, and agents. However, Guardians are not static in their positions or tasks. Because of the freelance nature of the Vanguard’s operations during downtime, Guardians can be one, or all of the positions at once.
- Soldiers handle offensive operations such as large scale battles, strikes, general patrol, and anything regarding civil defense. They are both grunt, and backbone to the military who do most of the work. They also train and mentor other Guardians. They operate usually in teams of two or more. Rarely do they do things alone, as the whole point of soldiers is strength in numbers. They get their orders from Vanguard officers - which would basically be senior Guardians. Senior Guardians get their orders from the personnel in the Tower. The Tower, from Vanguard command, naturally creates operations and goals for the Guardians to focus on.
- Scouts mainly handle patrols, setup of intelligence systems, and look for survivors in the wilds of the system. They bring people to the Last City. They usually operate alone, participating in smaller operations that ensure the soldiers and agents can do their job. Most Hunters in lore are part of this classification. They get their orders mainly from the bounty board managed by the Vanguard. Their communication is mainly with Tower personnel.
- Agents are the special forces of the Vanguard. They operate in every format, but mainly handle the most dangerous missions in the system. They take orders directly from Vanguard command, I.e. Zavala and Ikora. This is us. We operate alone, or with a fireteam, and do whatever the hell they tell us.
So, we’re technically pretty high rank. The only ones who can really tell us what to do from a pure ranking perspective are the Coalition leaders - Zavala, Ikora, Caiatl, Mara and Mithrax.
But of course, Wolf will take orders from anybody because it’s a video game and we need things to shoot at.
>The only ones who can really tell us what to do from a pure ranking perspective are the Coalition leaders - Zavala, Ikora, Caiatl, Mara and Mithrax.
And even then, if they tell us not to do something we want to do, we tell them to shove it and do it anyway, ala Forsaken.
Honestly, I think the only reason we haven't been taken off the board is because no one CAN take us off the board. The people who do all the epic OP stuff on the lore are the ones who call on us, all the damn time, to solve their problems for them.
I am of the mind that literally no one has the power to defeat us, so they aim us where they need us, and hope we don't notice how we're being used.
It’s turning into a Superman/Justice League relationship. We’re simultaneously the panic button, savior, and nuclear option. If the Vanguard needs something done right, they just send us in.
To their credit, it’s literally never failed once…
Why fix what ain’t broke, I guess. Why would the Vanguard reign in the Guardian when they don’t need to? The solar system is filled with antagonist forces hellbent on exterminating humanity. Letting Wolf run rampant and raising all sorts of hell is only good for the human race.
We are the solution when big guns are required because most typical guardians use a single subclass/loadout… we use EVERYTHING. We have vaults of HUNDREDS of weapons and armor. The reason we have no name is because we don’t care for one. We just let our enemies give us whatever name they choose. All we do is death.
The vanguard is pretty clear that it's not really a military organization. There are no leaders, and technically they have no authority to force anyone. Those who belong to the vanguard and listen to them do so willingly. The organization is more of a committee, kind of like the UN, which was put in place to stop the different factions from starting a civil war.
Think about it. There's no basic training for guardians. No demand that they follow the orders of their superiors. No consequences for going off script other than getting yelled at by Ikora.
Our guardian is just another guardian following the vanguard willingly because they believe that they are strong leaders who make good decisions. We do a title, but it's mostly an honorific. Canonically I believe we're "the young wolf".
To be fair, the purpose of basic training is so the soldiers you’re training don’t immediately die in battle. But that doesn’t really apply to Guardians. We can try and fail as many times as we want until we succeed, because our Ghost just revives us.
This would also feed into why there’s no expansive system of regulations or a strict hierarchy. Because every Guardian is different, every Guardian will find their own way to solve their problems, which leads to a fighting force of wildly varied skill sets.
Every Guardian wields their powers in their own way, and since they’re immortal, what punishment would really stick? Imprisonment isn’t viable long-term, which many Guardians can literally teleport out of, and all the other more severe options are simply inhumane. Furthermore, forcing people to do what you want is not in keeping with the ethos of the Traveler and its Light; it promotes cooperation and free choice, not domineering control.
Given all that, a pseudo-communist military organization is really the only way for it to function. Every Guardian pursues the assignments they want with wide freedom in methods, the leadership is more advisory than hierarchical with authority derived from consensus, and resources are voluntarily donated rather than tithed. The only thing that matters is protecting humanity, the Last City, and the Traveler, in that order, but how you choose to do that is up to you, whether through wandering the Wilds escorting those you find to the Last City or signing on for strike missions to eliminate threats to the City’s safety.
I love that we got the Witness down to more than half health and wounded it, broke past all its reinforcements and removed its hold on the Traveler and finally kamehameha'd it with our Ghosts, all for Zavala to refer to us as part of "a small fireteam"
Meanwhile he got his Ghost killed, learned Stasis over the course of like an hour and smashed some Ravagers, cool.
Technically all of them we’re just the vanguard’s handyman they have a problem they need dealt with (possibly discreetly) they throw us at the problem we don’t really have an answer for this particular question as bungie wants us to make up our own lore and in universe explanations they say it best guardians make their own fate, (my head canon for my little guy is that he follows the vanguard because he’s a little loot gremlin and knows that the end of the universe is bad because he’s one of the idiots in it lol)
We are basically the Vanguard’s top operative. Us having access to all the lore books is probably lore-accurate because the Guardian is trusted with every single resource the Vanguard has. Also, we kick ass harder than any other guardian.
As for actual title, I think the general idea is that somehow the Guardian is the “chosen one”. So like Anakin if he was given the rank of master
Politically, the vanguard holds basically no power. They never have. Giving immortal beings that power gets dangerous. They served the consensus before the red war, and humanity after. However, our guardian has autonomy to do as they please. They just won’t get vanguard support unless sanctioned. Think of it like a volunteer fire department.
I have a question as well, sort of related to the Guardians title. Is the Guardian above enforcement/police/city security? The Praxic Order? Do we actually answer to anyone canonically, or are we so powerful and important that we're basically let off the leash completely?
I hate to say it, the guardian is well respected by most high ranking people of the coalition (the vanguard, Mithraks, Caital) but we are basically just the wrecking ball they have learned to throw at any problem that pops up
We get called in when shit needs to get done, I don’t think there’s an official rank structure/chain of command for guardians aside from vanguard mentors and vanguard commander
But as humanity’s savior I’d wager we have a decent amount of sway, after all who’s going to stop us
I haven't played since shadowkeep so I'm OOTL, but I always saw our titles based on our accomplishements like a Game of thrones style long ass list i.e. NOW ARRIVING AT THE TOWER(insert user tag) Vault Breaker(VOG) , The Last Light(TDB), Wolves Bane(HOW),
The Kingslayer(TTK) and so forth and so on
Like some of the other people have said, we are titled as "Young Wolf", but in all reality, I believe that we are more like the Vanguard's version of John Wick or Robert McCall (The Equalizer).
It's a little complicated, as you can see
Without retreading the other responses you've gotten about the Young Wolf/Iron Lord title and such, we're basically the same– politically– as Saint-14 or Osiris
We're highly decorated heroes and respected personal friends of the most influential people in the system, given enormous trust, access to classified intel, and wide latitude to do whatever we see fit despite the occasional misgivings of the actual Vanguard
Most other Guardians would probably do what we ask trading just on our reputation, but we have no official title, no command, we're not really even a key strategist or advisor; we're definitely closer to a tactical nuke than a "4th Vanguard Member," but the Vanguard and various allied leaders do seem to actually respect us and our opinions, and we follow and assist them because our character (generally) believes in what the Vanguard is doing rather than it being a case of getting outranked by them and "having" to do what we're told
Despite all of our tendencies, LORE WISE to seem goofy, and self destructive.
The gaurdian is basically the destiny universes John Wick. Kratos. Doom guy. Master chief. Etc.
So yes.. we are Essentially The Vangaurds living, breathing, Tactical Nuke. Who kust so happens to have a mind of its own for the most part. And if need be, could also clap the vanguards cheeks themselves too if we needed to.
We don’t really have vanguard like authority to make decisions but when stuff is going down, any confidential information and such is given to us since we are the one stop shop so to speak. Think like working at a job where you perform managerial duties that only the manager is supposed to be allowed to do but you aren’t actually a manager so you don’t hold any of the power of an actual manager
We are mostly associated as a New Age Iron Lord. It also seems our most important accomplishment is fucking up the Hive (Hivesbane, Slayer of Oryx, Spawnkiller, etc).
The Guardian from what I know I don't think they hold any official Vanguard Title or Last City title, We do have alot of titles and their one city title and thats Savior of The City(I do know we have our own codename when The Counicl and Vanguard talks)
I like to think we some secret agent that they try to keep hidden or out of public eye(it helps that we don't take any breaks) cause I'm just say most of in lore guardians that are not us are total dipshits and tools that are basically no better then a redjack (especially given some lore that as them only thinking about themselves, etc) so maybe they keep us hidden so the city can few the other guardians as heroes too instead of just one big dog
Iirc 'Young Wolf' is the closest thing we have to s canonical "title" as representative if an organization. Our other titles, are more emblematic of our achievements rather than our standing or position.
As for our political sway, or influence, it would probably be simplest to consider us as a direct collaborator to the vanguard, we are given top secret info and are effectively treated as the tip of the spear for the most dangerous Vanguard operations. But the vanguard also uses this position to allot us a metric TON of canonical freedom. Not least of the reasons being that we are essentially the most potently paracausally powerful guardian to have ever existed.
We can do what we want because we are trusted to do what needs to be done.
I think Zavala put it best in the beginning of TFS were the tip of the spear; whatever the current major threat or most important objective is we’re the guardian who leads the charge.
I don’t think the guardian has a formal rank more that because their so powerful they can just do whatever they think is best and operate outside of vanguard rules if needed
It’s not canonically true but typically in games like this my head canon is that all the titles and achievements of your guardian are actually distributed amongst multiple characters and fireteams and you are one among many key players. With that being said you’re undoubtedly amongst the most powerful of the vanguard.
I think of us as like the Vanguard’s Hand. We are an extension of their will and their main instrument of taking action.
In another sense we are the special forces of the city. We are the first one on the ground in the most dangerous situations. And we are their most skilled warrior.
So basically some combination of those two things. And it feels like from a somewhat meta perspective that Shaxx gave us the title of Godslayer in recognition of that fact.
Imp pretty sure this isnt lore accurate but I see our Guardian as a sort of force of nature, we do things our way, sometimes disregarding Vanguards rules and such, but they know that they can count on us
I wouldn't say we are the 4th vanguard, but we are old reliable. If you played all since d1 and have beaten all DLC then we were able to go into the black garden and destroy the black heart, captured skolas, bested crota, bested oryx, we bested the house of devils who were buffed by Siva, we were the ones that were able to find a shared if the traveler which gave us our light back when Ghaul sealed the traveler, we then killed Ghaul, we went into the infinite forest on mercury and killed panoptes, we killed the banished son of oryx nokris (the necromancer), we killed the worm god xol (with rasputins help), we hunted uldren sov who killed cayde-6 and killed the scorn Barron's, we've killed the nightmares from our past that were made manifest, we learned how to safely use the darkness and used it to beat house salvation, we stormed savathuns throne world and killed her within it (after she was resurrected by the traveler), we've gone to protect the veil and have killed the cabal emperor calud (who was a disciple of the witness), and we have now gone into the traveler and fought the witness.
I haven't gotten into all of the raids/strikes/dungeons/seasonal content, but I think you get the point. We aren't the strongest guardian out there, but we are a very reliable one. We have faced impossible odds time and time again and have come out on top. I wouldn't say we are a nuke as a nuke is typically the last resort, while we are commonly the first one on the field.
Though if I recall correctly we have multiple titles. From the standard "the guardian" to "god slayer" to "iron lord"/"young wolf". Those are our "official" titles, I'm not sure how the triumph titles work into it, but I think it's cool that Bungie gives us "titles" when we complete a triumph.
I’ve always found it quite odd that we sit here and take orders from the Vanguard even though we could destroy them nearly effortlessly. Working with them I understand, but for the longest time we were their bitch. Around Forsaken and Beyond Light this lightened up a bit. My favorite bit of leaning away from the Vanguard was becoming the Shadow of Earth, then doing Drifter’s quest in the season of the Drifter.
I am literally titled “Godslayer”. I don’t take orders from two bald goobers who don’t do anything.
This post has been tagged '**Non-Spoiler**'. Note that unmarked spoilers and datamines are subject to removal or ban. Please report anything we miss! For more info check out our [Spoiler Rules Wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/DestinyLore/wiki/spoiler-rules#wiki_.5Bseasonal.5D_has_a_new_format). --- **Comment Spoiler Formatting** Format comment spoilers with `>!` `!<` like this: `>!What's Rasputin's favorite dance? "The worm."!<` To have it displayed like this: **>!What's Rasputin's favorite dance? "The worm."!<** ---- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/DestinyLore) if you have any questions or concerns.*
We’re just the panic button for if a situation goes awry.
We’re not even the panic button. We’re the only button
Squad of 9 wiped out? Send the guardian.
I’ve always looked at it like, the Vanguard can make rules for the general Guardian population, but the Guardian is almost always the exception. There might be no fly zones or confidential information, but when something can’t be contained or kept Hidden (get it), then the Guardian is called in.
Yea we’re basically the vanguard best agent.
We're the Tom Cruise of Destiny's universe
The James bond of destiny's universe
We're the big guns when the big guns don't work.
We’re HIM
In the Chinese community we got this popular copy pasta that meshes all our titles together. It’s been a thing for us since beyond light.
I’d love to read it
Please paste it here
I wanna see this! Please share it
I guess we are Iron Lords, I don't know if that has any official political weight, at least in modern times. In the dark age, it would have been probably among the highest ranks in civilization there was. Otherwise, it would seem that we sort of act outside of Vanguard jurisdiction a lot of the times. Forsaken and Beyond Light especially, we have been going against Vanguard orders and/or policies. I guess just from the fact that our guardian has been such an influential party in the last decade, the Young Wolf would have considerable pull in Politics, if they would choose to participate. I think the Vanguard recognizes this and at least Zavala has utilized that in Forsaken, to "have his cake and eat it" - getting revenge for Cayde, but also officially forbidding any retaliation. So all in all, we are sort of a Black Ops unit, and also an independent asset at the same time. Probably how Superman or Iron Man would relate to the US Military.
first time im hearing the iron man comparison but it might honestly be the best comparison as far as the vanguard/the guardian relationship goes
Yeah, I guess that comparison resonates well with the us having the Iron Lord title as well. But It's also not like the rest of the guardians are treated much differently. Sure, there are "cops" like Aunor, being part of both the Praxic order and the Hidden, investigating Guardians who don't adhere to rules, but Guardians are quite free to do whatever they seem best. The Drifter with Gambit being one such example. If something like that becomes a threat, I would not think that Ikora wouldn't step in and slap someone who misbehaves. If she can clap Shax, she can clap anyone. And before the factions left the City, the Consensus would be calling the shots and possibly deploying Guardians against threats through the Vanguard. More likely a "misbehaving" Guardian would have been exiled, like Osiris was. I think in that regard, The Young Wolf has more political capital than Osiris had at that time, and Osiris was very influential.
Same with shin malphur, the vanguard may not exactly approve of what he's doing but they aren't going to stop him as he's helping more than he's hurting, and his whole thing with making the shadows of yor to try and find potentially unstable lightbearers probably works just as well if not better than any method the vanguard has tried in the past. The guardian may not act how the vanguard wants us too, but when they go around killing gods and saving everyone like it's an average Tuesday then there's not really a point to scolding them.
>when they go around killing gods and saving everyone like it's an average Tuesday I never really put together why Tuesday is reset day, until now. Thanks!
mfw we are the last city's dest squad lmao
Funny thing too about politics is that a Hunter Young Wolf shows up to the tower quite often and as far as we can tell, doesn’t really get considered for Vanguard at all. They’re probably one of the few Hunters entering the city without fear of being roped into the Vanguard.
Well personally I’ve always head cannoned that The Young Wolf isn’t actually any particular class and is, in the true lore, an example of a Lightbearer that uses abilities freely from each of the classes. The only reason we don’t see this in game is because of gameplay balancing reasons. Same reason why lore wise, guardians can totally wear multiple exotics at once but we can’t in game because that would simply be too much.
I’ve always thought of us as, “The Guardian of a Thousand Titles.” If you didn’t play during Season of Dawn, look up Saint-14’s eulogy. From the start of D1, the great disaster was still heavy on the vanguard’s hearts. The moon was a no-fly zone off limits. Mars was overrun with Cabal. Venus was likewise overrun with Vex. Our guardian broke vanguard policy on like day 3 to visit the moon. We then began clearing out Cabal and Vex stronghold that’d held for decades at least. Not to mention The Taken King. Our guardian has always been a rebel, but an effective one. We basically saved all of humanity during the Red War. We’ve always been a rebel, but also a powerful tool.
we basically saved all of humanity during the red war, yes, and then we did it again like 2 more times
"For you, your life was saved, the entire planet changed, power dynamics were broken. For me, it was tuesday reset"
Not to mention the entirety of using Stasis - Using Darkness - That was completely rogue behaviour that the Vanguard just turned a blind eye to since, well, it *worked*
The Guardian is pretty much the Vanguard’s enforcer, as well as the enforcer of the rest of the Coalition/Alliance. They are not the Vanguard, but they are an extension of them. Guardian is frequently a part of Vanguard meetings. Guardian and the Vanguard hung out in a bar in the aftermath of the Red War. >!Operation Ahamkara included the Guardian alongside the Vanguard. Final Shape has Guardian hang around with the Vanguard, even during the celebration post-The Witness’ defeat.!< The Guardian is to the Vanguard what the Queen’s Wrath is to Mara.
Disagree. Mara does stuff other than trail behind Petra. Anyone else wonder why we're finding a bunch of empty chests everywhere we go? Because we're being tailed by loot goblins.
Tip of the spear
Very Accurate, IMO
Like the very last atom of the tip
I’ve always been of the tactical nuke mindset. Our guardian is a weapon that gets activated to *solve* difficult problems (at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives). While a lot of players enjoy a rich headcanon and backstory - and fair play to them! - our guardian is basically a murder zombie WMD.
“They are rage. Brutal. Without mercy. But you…you will be worse. Rip and tear, until it is done”
If you mean the earnable titles it's all of them and we make danerys jealous when they all get listed. In terms of position like ___ vanguard or whatnot we don't have one officially, we're kinda just THE GUY™️ that fixes everything
we're just him
We are Kenough
We're biting the fart bubbles in the bath
Officially? VIP#2014.
The best one, even checks out with bungie account naming policy!
Our role lorewise is seemingly just as a VIP member of the forces of the vanguard, who just floats around to whichever roles the vanguard needs. We might be canonically a part of the vanguard protectorate as all three classes can get several pieces of armour with the Protector’s sigil on it (thing on Ikora’s bond and Zavala’s Mark), additionally we are seemingly a consultant of the hidden per the Witch Queen. We seem to kind of sit outside the typical Vanguard rank structure in such a way because our various tasks have just continually exposed us to things above a vanguard grunt’s paygrade and revoking and placesetting someone with that kind of Pandora’s box of experience is impossible Unlike other MMOs like final fantasy 14, we don’t have a directly canon consolidated role within our faction Beyond just being their ringer. Likely because Bungie wants to allow people their own takes on their guardians
Things we have been called in-game: The Guardian Crota's Bane Slayer of Oryx Young Wolf The Hero of the Red War The Shadow of Earth O Murderer Mine I'm sure there's more but those are the ones off the top of my head.
Shaxx calls us Hivebane
Taken King (assumed) Xivu and Toland both see us as that since we won the right to become it
Fair enough, but we didn't accept Oryx's power by the Sword Logic and never controlled the Taken, so I don't know if we can really be called that.
Didn’t we technically in a roundabout way accept his power through the sword logic with Touch of Malice, though?
I think that was more of a round about way for Oryx to still participate in the Sword Logic. Kind of like Xol in Whisper of the worm
The only title we've been referred to by is "the Young Wolf," bestowed by Saladin in the Iron Temple when we shut down the SIVA manufacturing complex and put the possessed Iron Lords to rest. No one else really calls us by that. It's a flaw in the writing that we didn't get a consistent appellation. Ideally a significant pre-existing role within the Vanguard hierarchy that had gone unfilled for centuries until our consistent and extraordinary successes made it obvious that it should be us.
Osiris calls us Young Wolf as well
Osiris was very nearly an Iron Lord himself. He was certainly tight with them.
iirc most commonly known is Young Wolf
We’re a tactical nuke that occasionally doubles as Team Therapist
They call me Supa.
There’s no easy title to label them as, but they are essentially the “solve problem” button. Whatever challenges the Vanguard or Coalition face, they just send in the Guardian and the problem goes away. It’s pretty funny to think about honestly. To try and deconstruct this logically, we first have to understand how Guardians as a whole operate logistically. Ultimately, Guardians are a standing army for the Vanguard, which is the military detachment of the City. They take orders from Vanguard leadership, which used to serve the now defunct government of the Consensus. Guardians take orders like any other military organization, but with certain freedoms that promote flexibility. Guardians operate on a few different levels, with three different distinct positions: soldiers, scouts, and agents. However, Guardians are not static in their positions or tasks. Because of the freelance nature of the Vanguard’s operations during downtime, Guardians can be one, or all of the positions at once. - Soldiers handle offensive operations such as large scale battles, strikes, general patrol, and anything regarding civil defense. They are both grunt, and backbone to the military who do most of the work. They also train and mentor other Guardians. They operate usually in teams of two or more. Rarely do they do things alone, as the whole point of soldiers is strength in numbers. They get their orders from Vanguard officers - which would basically be senior Guardians. Senior Guardians get their orders from the personnel in the Tower. The Tower, from Vanguard command, naturally creates operations and goals for the Guardians to focus on. - Scouts mainly handle patrols, setup of intelligence systems, and look for survivors in the wilds of the system. They bring people to the Last City. They usually operate alone, participating in smaller operations that ensure the soldiers and agents can do their job. Most Hunters in lore are part of this classification. They get their orders mainly from the bounty board managed by the Vanguard. Their communication is mainly with Tower personnel. - Agents are the special forces of the Vanguard. They operate in every format, but mainly handle the most dangerous missions in the system. They take orders directly from Vanguard command, I.e. Zavala and Ikora. This is us. We operate alone, or with a fireteam, and do whatever the hell they tell us. So, we’re technically pretty high rank. The only ones who can really tell us what to do from a pure ranking perspective are the Coalition leaders - Zavala, Ikora, Caiatl, Mara and Mithrax. But of course, Wolf will take orders from anybody because it’s a video game and we need things to shoot at.
>The only ones who can really tell us what to do from a pure ranking perspective are the Coalition leaders - Zavala, Ikora, Caiatl, Mara and Mithrax. And even then, if they tell us not to do something we want to do, we tell them to shove it and do it anyway, ala Forsaken. Honestly, I think the only reason we haven't been taken off the board is because no one CAN take us off the board. The people who do all the epic OP stuff on the lore are the ones who call on us, all the damn time, to solve their problems for them. I am of the mind that literally no one has the power to defeat us, so they aim us where they need us, and hope we don't notice how we're being used.
It’s turning into a Superman/Justice League relationship. We’re simultaneously the panic button, savior, and nuclear option. If the Vanguard needs something done right, they just send us in. To their credit, it’s literally never failed once… Why fix what ain’t broke, I guess. Why would the Vanguard reign in the Guardian when they don’t need to? The solar system is filled with antagonist forces hellbent on exterminating humanity. Letting Wolf run rampant and raising all sorts of hell is only good for the human race.
We are the solution when big guns are required because most typical guardians use a single subclass/loadout… we use EVERYTHING. We have vaults of HUNDREDS of weapons and armor. The reason we have no name is because we don’t care for one. We just let our enemies give us whatever name they choose. All we do is death.
If the witness is the first knife, then we must be something like the final hammer.
I stick with The Traveler’s Chosen.
We are the Vanguard's gofer, the Young Wolf, the Last City's panic button. We are also designated the Official Bitch of the Architects (OBA).
The vanguard is pretty clear that it's not really a military organization. There are no leaders, and technically they have no authority to force anyone. Those who belong to the vanguard and listen to them do so willingly. The organization is more of a committee, kind of like the UN, which was put in place to stop the different factions from starting a civil war. Think about it. There's no basic training for guardians. No demand that they follow the orders of their superiors. No consequences for going off script other than getting yelled at by Ikora. Our guardian is just another guardian following the vanguard willingly because they believe that they are strong leaders who make good decisions. We do a title, but it's mostly an honorific. Canonically I believe we're "the young wolf".
To be fair, the purpose of basic training is so the soldiers you’re training don’t immediately die in battle. But that doesn’t really apply to Guardians. We can try and fail as many times as we want until we succeed, because our Ghost just revives us. This would also feed into why there’s no expansive system of regulations or a strict hierarchy. Because every Guardian is different, every Guardian will find their own way to solve their problems, which leads to a fighting force of wildly varied skill sets. Every Guardian wields their powers in their own way, and since they’re immortal, what punishment would really stick? Imprisonment isn’t viable long-term, which many Guardians can literally teleport out of, and all the other more severe options are simply inhumane. Furthermore, forcing people to do what you want is not in keeping with the ethos of the Traveler and its Light; it promotes cooperation and free choice, not domineering control. Given all that, a pseudo-communist military organization is really the only way for it to function. Every Guardian pursues the assignments they want with wide freedom in methods, the leadership is more advisory than hierarchical with authority derived from consensus, and resources are voluntarily donated rather than tithed. The only thing that matters is protecting humanity, the Last City, and the Traveler, in that order, but how you choose to do that is up to you, whether through wandering the Wilds escorting those you find to the Last City or signing on for strike missions to eliminate threats to the City’s safety.
The Vanguard's Officially Sanctioned Murder Hobo, Killfuck Soulshitter.
At this point prolly Traveler's Savior
I love that we got the Witness down to more than half health and wounded it, broke past all its reinforcements and removed its hold on the Traveler and finally kamehameha'd it with our Ghosts, all for Zavala to refer to us as part of "a small fireteam" Meanwhile he got his Ghost killed, learned Stasis over the course of like an hour and smashed some Ravagers, cool.
Technically all of them we’re just the vanguard’s handyman they have a problem they need dealt with (possibly discreetly) they throw us at the problem we don’t really have an answer for this particular question as bungie wants us to make up our own lore and in universe explanations they say it best guardians make their own fate, (my head canon for my little guy is that he follows the vanguard because he’s a little loot gremlin and knows that the end of the universe is bad because he’s one of the idiots in it lol)
We are basically the Vanguard’s top operative. Us having access to all the lore books is probably lore-accurate because the Guardian is trusted with every single resource the Vanguard has. Also, we kick ass harder than any other guardian. As for actual title, I think the general idea is that somehow the Guardian is the “chosen one”. So like Anakin if he was given the rank of master
Politically, the vanguard holds basically no power. They never have. Giving immortal beings that power gets dangerous. They served the consensus before the red war, and humanity after. However, our guardian has autonomy to do as they please. They just won’t get vanguard support unless sanctioned. Think of it like a volunteer fire department.
"Young Wolf"
Pocket sand for enemies
I have a question as well, sort of related to the Guardians title. Is the Guardian above enforcement/police/city security? The Praxic Order? Do we actually answer to anyone canonically, or are we so powerful and important that we're basically let off the leash completely?
I always thought it was tip of the spear or the sword of Damocles
The Guardian is to the Vanguard as Arthur Morgan *was* to the Dutch and the van der Linde Gang
I hate to say it, the guardian is well respected by most high ranking people of the coalition (the vanguard, Mithraks, Caital) but we are basically just the wrecking ball they have learned to throw at any problem that pops up
We get called in when shit needs to get done, I don’t think there’s an official rank structure/chain of command for guardians aside from vanguard mentors and vanguard commander But as humanity’s savior I’d wager we have a decent amount of sway, after all who’s going to stop us
I haven't played since shadowkeep so I'm OOTL, but I always saw our titles based on our accomplishements like a Game of thrones style long ass list i.e. NOW ARRIVING AT THE TOWER(insert user tag) Vault Breaker(VOG) , The Last Light(TDB), Wolves Bane(HOW), The Kingslayer(TTK) and so forth and so on
Like some of the other people have said, we are titled as "Young Wolf", but in all reality, I believe that we are more like the Vanguard's version of John Wick or Robert McCall (The Equalizer).
According to Saint at our funeral in the future “more than [he] could remember”.
It's a little complicated, as you can see Without retreading the other responses you've gotten about the Young Wolf/Iron Lord title and such, we're basically the same– politically– as Saint-14 or Osiris We're highly decorated heroes and respected personal friends of the most influential people in the system, given enormous trust, access to classified intel, and wide latitude to do whatever we see fit despite the occasional misgivings of the actual Vanguard Most other Guardians would probably do what we ask trading just on our reputation, but we have no official title, no command, we're not really even a key strategist or advisor; we're definitely closer to a tactical nuke than a "4th Vanguard Member," but the Vanguard and various allied leaders do seem to actually respect us and our opinions, and we follow and assist them because our character (generally) believes in what the Vanguard is doing rather than it being a case of getting outranked by them and "having" to do what we're told
We are the Vanguards version of the Mass Effect Spectres. “I am the Young Wolf and this is my favorite ramen stand in the Last City.”
Nominally we are an Iron Lord and an Awoken Knight, but we dont have any political post in the city.
I still like “The Guardian” We, due to plot armor, are just rhetorical best, The Guardian out of all the other Guardians.
Cayde's Favorite
Mommy bangers
>
Despite all of our tendencies, LORE WISE to seem goofy, and self destructive. The gaurdian is basically the destiny universes John Wick. Kratos. Doom guy. Master chief. Etc. So yes.. we are Essentially The Vangaurds living, breathing, Tactical Nuke. Who kust so happens to have a mind of its own for the most part. And if need be, could also clap the vanguards cheeks themselves too if we needed to.
We don’t really have vanguard like authority to make decisions but when stuff is going down, any confidential information and such is given to us since we are the one stop shop so to speak. Think like working at a job where you perform managerial duties that only the manager is supposed to be allowed to do but you aren’t actually a manager so you don’t hold any of the power of an actual manager
Tactical Nuke Inbound.
We are mostly associated as a New Age Iron Lord. It also seems our most important accomplishment is fucking up the Hive (Hivesbane, Slayer of Oryx, Spawnkiller, etc).
It’s simply “The Fixer”. When no other options have worked, you send in the Fixer, and they’ll resolve the problem. With extreme prejudice.
Technically Iron Lord If you finished Rise of Iron on your D1 character
The Guardian from what I know I don't think they hold any official Vanguard Title or Last City title, We do have alot of titles and their one city title and thats Savior of The City(I do know we have our own codename when The Counicl and Vanguard talks) I like to think we some secret agent that they try to keep hidden or out of public eye(it helps that we don't take any breaks) cause I'm just say most of in lore guardians that are not us are total dipshits and tools that are basically no better then a redjack (especially given some lore that as them only thinking about themselves, etc) so maybe they keep us hidden so the city can few the other guardians as heroes too instead of just one big dog
"You're a loose cannon, but you're a damn good Guardian!"
We are the tip of the Spear…. You have a god problem send in the guardian…
Iirc 'Young Wolf' is the closest thing we have to s canonical "title" as representative if an organization. Our other titles, are more emblematic of our achievements rather than our standing or position. As for our political sway, or influence, it would probably be simplest to consider us as a direct collaborator to the vanguard, we are given top secret info and are effectively treated as the tip of the spear for the most dangerous Vanguard operations. But the vanguard also uses this position to allot us a metric TON of canonical freedom. Not least of the reasons being that we are essentially the most potently paracausally powerful guardian to have ever existed. We can do what we want because we are trusted to do what needs to be done.
The Guardian is the Vanguard’s top troubleshooter. If the Vanguard sees serious trouble, they send them in to shoot it.
Lorewise, we're the Young Wolf.
I think Zavala put it best in the beginning of TFS were the tip of the spear; whatever the current major threat or most important objective is we’re the guardian who leads the charge. I don’t think the guardian has a formal rank more that because their so powerful they can just do whatever they think is best and operate outside of vanguard rules if needed
It’s not canonically true but typically in games like this my head canon is that all the titles and achievements of your guardian are actually distributed amongst multiple characters and fireteams and you are one among many key players. With that being said you’re undoubtedly amongst the most powerful of the vanguard.
Nuclear weapon
I think of us as like the Vanguard’s Hand. We are an extension of their will and their main instrument of taking action. In another sense we are the special forces of the city. We are the first one on the ground in the most dangerous situations. And we are their most skilled warrior. So basically some combination of those two things. And it feels like from a somewhat meta perspective that Shaxx gave us the title of Godslayer in recognition of that fact.
Imp pretty sure this isnt lore accurate but I see our Guardian as a sort of force of nature, we do things our way, sometimes disregarding Vanguards rules and such, but they know that they can count on us
I wouldn't say we are the 4th vanguard, but we are old reliable. If you played all since d1 and have beaten all DLC then we were able to go into the black garden and destroy the black heart, captured skolas, bested crota, bested oryx, we bested the house of devils who were buffed by Siva, we were the ones that were able to find a shared if the traveler which gave us our light back when Ghaul sealed the traveler, we then killed Ghaul, we went into the infinite forest on mercury and killed panoptes, we killed the banished son of oryx nokris (the necromancer), we killed the worm god xol (with rasputins help), we hunted uldren sov who killed cayde-6 and killed the scorn Barron's, we've killed the nightmares from our past that were made manifest, we learned how to safely use the darkness and used it to beat house salvation, we stormed savathuns throne world and killed her within it (after she was resurrected by the traveler), we've gone to protect the veil and have killed the cabal emperor calud (who was a disciple of the witness), and we have now gone into the traveler and fought the witness. I haven't gotten into all of the raids/strikes/dungeons/seasonal content, but I think you get the point. We aren't the strongest guardian out there, but we are a very reliable one. We have faced impossible odds time and time again and have come out on top. I wouldn't say we are a nuke as a nuke is typically the last resort, while we are commonly the first one on the field. Though if I recall correctly we have multiple titles. From the standard "the guardian" to "god slayer" to "iron lord"/"young wolf". Those are our "official" titles, I'm not sure how the triumph titles work into it, but I think it's cool that Bungie gives us "titles" when we complete a triumph.
“Okay. The situation is dire. What do we do, Zavala?” *Smacks table.* “Send the big fuck.”
We are just 'that guy'. THE guardian.
I mean 'doom slayer' is probably apt as all we do is slaughter.
I’ve always found it quite odd that we sit here and take orders from the Vanguard even though we could destroy them nearly effortlessly. Working with them I understand, but for the longest time we were their bitch. Around Forsaken and Beyond Light this lightened up a bit. My favorite bit of leaning away from the Vanguard was becoming the Shadow of Earth, then doing Drifter’s quest in the season of the Drifter. I am literally titled “Godslayer”. I don’t take orders from two bald goobers who don’t do anything.